William Alexander McConnell : Short Biography

William Alexander McConnell emigrated to Australia arriving in New South Wales possibly in the late 1870's or early 1880's with his brother's John and James. It is thought Samuel Joseph his younger brother arrived in the 1880's. His sister Isabella may have arrived at the same time or even later. Nothing has been found with regards to their arrival.

William and his siblings became orphaned when their father James of Ballynadrentagh, Killead, died in 1869 and their mother Helena (nee Sherlock) died in 1872. It is thought that the children were taken in by their mother's family headed by their grandfather James Sherlock of Crosshill, Killead, Antrim. 

Some time after William and his brother's arrival in New South Wales they joined a party of stockmen for the Durack and Kilfoyle overland cattle drive from New South Wales through Queensland, the Northern Territory to the Kimberley's in the north of Western Australia. They then tried their luck at gold mining for a period in the Kimberley's before heading south to Perth, Western Australia in the early 1890's. Western Australia was in a state of euphoria with the discovery of gold in the Goldfields and the boys decided to make the most of the discovery and started a Bee Hive store on the corner of Hutt and James streets. Samuel ran the store, his friend James Daley from a New South Wales family started a cab business while John and James ran the Globe Hotel in Wellington street and kept an eye on happenings and opportunities that arose from acquaintances they made. William purchased land and started a market garden - orchard. The boys also sourced timber for fencing and building and Samuel also applied for a licence for the Belfast Bottling Co. 

In 1894 William's brother John died of consumption at the Albert View Hotel in Redfern, Sydney in New South Wales of which James had become licensee. James married Jessie Parker in Perth in 1897 and they moved to Sydney. Samuel remained in Perth until the late 1890's until he decided to leave to go east. Samuel married Ellen Mary Baxter (a divorcee and originally from Cavan) in 1901 in Melbourne.

William remained in Western Australia and in March 1901 married Martha Anne Tennyson from Dungannon, Tyrone, who had arrived on the ss Cornwall in June 1898. William soon after their marriage became manager of the Darling Nursery owned by Jaques Hawter. William purchased a block at Smith's Mill in the Darling Range to the east of Perth and began a vineyard. Martha, grew vegetables, milked a cow and raised poultry while bringing up their eldest children. Martha exhibited her produce at Parkerville and Perth Royal Shows during this period.

In 1910 William sold blocks he owned in Victoria Park, Perth and purchased a small farm in Waroona. He worked for a short period of time on the Perth Trams during the Tram Strike of 1910. The farm in Waroona was sold in 1913, then in 1914 an advertisment for a clearing sale to be held in Guildford for W.A. McConnell who was leaving the district appeared in a local paper.

in the 1916 Census Martha was living at Burges Siding, Tipperary near York in Western Australia. On the 1918 Census William and Martha were both on the electoral roll and living at Dalyallup in the south west of Western Australia. William was again working for Jaques Hawter at his Dalyallup Nursery. William and Martha's youngest son Robert was born the same year.

In early 1921 a missing persons notice was put in a New South Wales newspaper by Justin Hickey (witness on William and Martha's marriage certificate) a friend; "could James and Samuel McConnell please make contact?" Later that year, on the 22nd August 1921 William died of cancer, leaving Martha and his 7 living children on their own.